Rolling mill

ABSTRACT

At least one of the rolls if formed of an axial support member, surrounding roll shell and a movable support element such as a piston. Both rolls are mounted at each end in a common support with each support made of upper and bottom blocks which are joined to each other by detachable connecting elements. These detaching elements allow the blocks and, thereby, one end of one roll to be raised or lowered to permit entry to the nip between the rolls. The connecting elements can also be prestressed to a degree higher than the maximum force which would occur between the rolls during use.

United States Patent Biondefli 1*Nov. 25, 1975 15, 1 ROLLING MILL 1,925,949 9/1933 Case lO/l68 2,950,507 8/1960 Keyser.... lOO/l62 B {75] Invent nmnlemschw Italy 3,119,324 1/1964 Justus 100/170 [73] Assignee: Escher Wyss Limited, Switzerland Z Q ran me 1 l Notice: The portion of the term of this 3,653,320 4/1972 Oehlmann et al. 100/168 X patent subsequent to May 27, 1992, 3,802,044 4/1974 Spillman et al. 29/113 AD 1 has been FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1 21 Filed: J 1974 23,797 10/1964 Japan 100/162 B {21] Appl. No.: 435,209

Primary ExaminerPeter Feldman Attorne A em, or Firm-Pennie & Edmonds Foreign Application Priority Data, y 8

Feb. 8, 1973 Switzerland 1794/73 57 ABSTRACT [52] vs loo/162 29/1l6 72/239, At least'one of the rolls if formed of an axial support 72/225 loo/ lo member, surrounding roll shell and a movable support [5 In Cl 2 830B 3/04 BZIB 31/32 element such as a piston. Both rolls are mounted at [581 Field of Search /162 R, 162 B, 161, end a comm Support "F each, P 100/l63 165 168475 29 13 made of upper and bottom blocks which are oined to AD 72/245 239 each other by detachable connecting elements. These detaching elements allow the blocks and, thereby, one [56] References Cited end of one roll to be raised or lowered to permit entry UNITED ST E to the nip between the rolls. The connecting elements AT S PATENTS can also be prestressed to a degree higher than the B l 1 85,97 maximum force which would occur between the rolls J ea e d 639,915 12/1899 Whitlock 100/168 x use 811.527 1/1906 Aldrich 100/176 2 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures Sheet 1 of2 3,921,514

US. Patent Nov. 25, 1975 US. Patent Nov. 25, 1975 Sheet 2 of2 3,921,514

ROLLING MILL.

This invention relates to a rolling mill.

As is known, a rolling mill has usually been constructed with two rolls mounted in fixed supports and set to define a nip for the passage of materials upon which a substantially uniform pressure can be exerted. In order to obtain contact pressure between the rolls, for example, where used in paper making machines, it has been a common practice to use different contact pressure devices. However, these devices have been costly and complicated and have occupied a relatively large amount of space.

Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a simplified rolling mill which does not require complicated contact pressure devices.

It is another object of the invention to provide a rolling mill of higher load-bearing capacity than presently existing.

It is another object of the invention to provide a rolling mill which is able to achieve a uniform pressure between the rolls of the mill.

Briefly, the invention provides a rolling mill'which includes at least two rolls of which at least one roll is made in a manner similar to the press roll described in U.S. Pat. application Ser. No. 409,644 filed Oct. 25, 1973, now U.S. Pat. No. 3,885,283. Such a roll is constructed of an axial support member or beam, a roll shell which is rotatable about the beam and at least one movable support element which supports the shell on the beam and serves to movably guide the shell in a radial direction with respect to the beam. The support elements comprise hydrostatic pistons which are guided in cylindrical bores in the beam. The cylindrical bores are supplied with hydraulic fluid so that the pistons apply a uniform support thrust to the shell along the entire length of the shell. An embodiment with a single elongated hydrostatic piston is also possible. Also, mechanical embodiments of such a support element are feasible.

The rolling mill also includes supports or bearings in which the ends of the rolls are supported in common. These bearings for the two rolls are rigidly coupled together to form piers so that only the movable support pistons within the roll or rolls are used to generate the contact pressure force between the rolls. This measure makes it possible to dispense with the contact pressure devices and movable bearings for the rolls which are otherwise required in rolling mills of this kind, for example, in paper making machines.

The beams of the roll or rolls can be very simply constructed. The support elements permit the contact force along the rolls to be uniformly distributed when the support elements take the form of hydrostatic support elements.

It is possible to construct the bearings for the rolls as separate units, for example as mounting blocks and to join them to each other by means of easily detachable coupling elements which are suitable for transmitting the force of the rolls. The facilitates lateral opening of the rolls with simple means such as may be required for example for inserting a paper web, a machine wire or a felt blanket between the rolls.

The coupling elements can be prestressed in operation by a prestressing force which is greater than the maximum thrust force between the rolls during operation. This construction prevents lift-off of the parts of 2 the support at the parting joint under all operating conditions. In one embodiment, the coupling elements may be screw fasteners, the ends of which are pivotably joined inone sidewith the appropriate part of the support member. Thisprovides a coupling means which can be easily released or closed.

In a rolling mill with two rolls of which one is disposed above the other, it is possible for each pier to be divided along a horizontal parting plane. Assembling the two parts of the pier and lifting of one of the rolls is thus greatly facilitated because the two parts of the pier can be placed upon each other before they are bolted together. In such an embodiment of the rolling mill, it is also possible to fixedly locate the lower part of the support with the support means for the lower roll and to construct the upper part of the support with the support means for the upper roll in such a way that the upper part can be raised with respect to the bottom part. Alternatively, where the upper part of the support is fixed to the support means for the top roll andthe bottom part fixed to the support means of the lower roll, the lower roll. can be lowered with respect to the upper roll where this may be more advantageous in some cases. i

If interchangeable spacers are provided at the parting joints of the support, it is possible to adapt the rolling mill to different thicknesses of the material that is to be treated without having to tolerate any excessive radial movability of the support elements.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description and appended claims taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a view showing a partial section of a rolling mill according to the invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates a view taken on line ll--II of FIG. 1; FIG. 3 illustrates a view taken on line Ill-III of FIG.

FIG. 4 illustrates a view corresponding to FIG. 1 of a mill in which the upper roll can be raised; and

FIG. 5 illustrates aview corresponding to FIG. 4 of a rolling mill in which the upper roll is fixedly supported and the bottom roll can be lowered with respect to the top roll.

Referring to FIG. 1, the rolling mill has atop roll 1 and a bottom roll 2. The top roll 1 is a solidroll which is rotatably journalled in bearings 4 that are formed in an upper part or upper mounting block 5 of a support or pier 6. The lower roll 2 contains a support member or beam 7 on which a shell 8 is rotatably supported; The shell 8 is supported on movable pistons such as hydrostatic piston elements 10 which are guided in cylin- -drical bores 11 in the beam 7. The elements 10 are movable with respect to the beam 7 in a plane which extends substantially through the axes of the two rolls 1, 2. The cylinders 11 are connected by means of a duct 12 to a source (not shown) of fluid under pressure. The shell 8 can be thrust by the hydraulic force of the pistons 10 against the top roll 1 in a known manner. A characteristic of the pistons 10 is that their contact pressure along the entire lengths of the rolls 1, 2 is uniform and remains unaffected by any flexure of the beam 7.

The ends of the support member 7 are supported in bottom mounting blocks 13 of the pier 6 and are prevented from rotating by a suitable means (not shown). To this end, the ends of the beam 7 are provided with spherical or cylindrical bearing shells 14 which permit flexure of .the ends of the beam 7 and the resultant angular motion of the ends of the beam with respect to themounting block 13 of the pier 6, respectively. In operation, the upper roll 1 and the beam 7 are thus supported in the piers 6 by their bearings 4 and 14in relative positions which are fixed except for flexure, no translational motion of one with respect to the other being possible.

Both ends of the shell 8 are provided with guide means which may be constructed in different manner to permit limited translational movement of the shell 8 as a whole with respect to the support member 7, in a path which lies in a plane which extends substantially through the axes of both rolls 1, 2.

According to FIGS. 1 and 2, such a guide means comprises a flanged mounting ring 15 which is secured to one of the end faces of the shell 8. The mounting ring 15 is rotatably supported on a guide disc 16 which has an elongated opening 17 with two parallel guide surfaces 18. At the position of the guide means, the beam 7 is provided with lateral flats by means of which the guide disc 16 is guided. Guide surfaces 18 and 20 on the disc 16 and beam 7 constitute twopart'interengaging means defining a path of limited transational motion for the roll shell 8 as a whole and for the discs or bearings rings 16 substantially parallel to a plane containing the axes of the beam'7 and roll shell 8.

According to FIG. 1, the right hand end of the roll 1 is provided with a shaft stub 21 which may be utilized, for example, for driving the top roll 1 by a driving means (not shown).

Each. pier 6 also includes interchangeable spacer parts such as disc 22 between the two blocks 5 and 13 for adjusting the center distance between the two rolls 1, 2.

As may be seen by reference to FIG. 3, the blocks 5 and 13 of the two piers 6 are separately joined to each other-by detachable coupling means such as screw fasteners 23 and nuts 24. The bottom ends of the screw fasteners 23 are provided with eyes 25 through which trunnions 26 extend that are mounted in the bottom mounting block 13.

In operation, both mounting blocks 5 and 13 together with a spacer disc 22 are fixedly bolted to each other by means of the screw fasteners 23 with a prestressing force which is greater than the maximum force between the rolls 1 and 2 which may occur in operation. The parts l5, l3 and 22 in this way cooperate to constitute the rigid pier 6. In contrast to conventional rolling mills of this kind,'the thrust force between the rolls 1 and 2 is obtained solely by the hydrostatic support pistons l0 and depends on the pressure supplied thereto. In cases inwhich it is possible to dispense with opening of the rolling mill, as will be explained subsequently, it is also possible for the support 6 to be integrally constructed.

If provision for opening is required in a rolling mill according to FIGS. 1 to 3, for example for inserting a paper web, a machine wire for paper manufacture or a felt blanket, it is sufficient to slacken the nuts 24 of the screw fasteners 23 by a few revolutions and to pivot the fasteners 23 away in .the lateral direction. The top roll 1 can then be raised by simple means which are not shown, for example a hoist. According to FIG. 4, a support arm 27.can be used to simplify this operation. As shown, the support arm 27 extends from the bottom mounting block 13. During use of this support arm, one end of the top roll 1 is supported by the support arm 27 while the other end is raised. It is also possible to raise the roll 1 by applying thrust to the shaft stub 21 at the right hand end of FIG. 4. To this end, the shaft stub 21 may be constructed to a longer length as indicated by the shaft stub 21' shown in broken lines in FIG. 4.

Referring to FIG. 5, the rolling mill may alternately have the upper mounting blocks 5 secured to a fixed supporting structure 30 which is shown in diagrammatic form. The lower mounting blocks 13', which may be joined to the support blocks 5' in a manner which is identical or similar to that illustrated in FIG. 3, can be lowered with respect to the upper blocks 5. Lowering or raising can be performed by a lifting device 31. The same lifting device can also be used at the other end of the roll 2. By analogy with FIG. 4 it is also possible to suspend the right hand end of the roll 2 from the top mounting block 5, for example by means of a rope 32 or on the support structure 30 so that the roll 2 need only be lowered or raised at one end in order to open the rolling mill.

It will be evident that the invention can be employed in like manner for rolling mills with more rolls or for rolling mills with a roll system other than a vertical system. It is also possible to provide the top roller or both rolls with a fixed support member and a rotatable shell and with support elements in place of the bottom roll.

What is claimed is:

1. A rolling mill comprising two rolls, at least one of said rolls including a beam and a cylindrical roll shell rotatably disposed about the beam, means supporting said beam and the other of said rolls in relative positions which are fixed except for flexure and for rotation without translation, two spaced bearing rings for support of said roll shell, two part interengaging means in each of said bearing rings and beam defining a path of limited translational motion for said roll shell as a whole and for said bearing rings substantially parallel to a plane containing the axes of said beam and other roll, and a plurality of pistons supported in cylindrical cavities in said beam and bearing against the inner surface said roll shell.

2. A rolling mill according to claim 1 in which said non-resilient supporting means include bearings for said other roll, bearings for said beam, and detachable coupling means between said bearings.

UNITED STATES PATENT QFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. 5,9 ,5 I Dated November 5, 1975 Inventor( Mario Biondetti It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Column 1, line 61, "The facilitates" should read This facilitates Column i, line 55, "non-resilient" should be deleted.

Signed and Scaled this Third Day of August 1976 [SEAL] Attest:

RUTH C. MASON C. MARSHALL DANN Arresting Officer Commissioner ofParents and Trademarks 

1. A rolling mill comprising two rolls, at least one of said rolls including a beam and a cylindrical roll shell rotatably disposed about the beam, means supporting said beam and the other of said rolls in relative positions which are fixed except for flexure and for rotation without translation, two spaced bearing rings for support of said roll shell, two part interengaging means in each of said bearing rings and beam defining a path of limited translational motion for said roll shell as a whole and for said bearing rings substantially parallel to a plane containing the axes of said beam and other roll, and a plurality of pistons supported in cylindrical cavities in said beam and bearing against the inner surface said roll shell.
 2. A rolling mill according to claim 1 in which said non-resilient supporting means include bearings for said other roll, bearings for said beam, and detachable coupling means between said bearings. 